ArtistDanish
Bernhard Hertz
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Bernhard Hertz was born in 1834 into a well-established Jewish family in Copenhagen, the fourth of nine children of Abraham Hertz and Adelaide Meye. His father operated a tannery at Rosenborggade 5, and the family moved comfortably within the city's merchant circles. From an early age Hertz was drawn to the craft of goldsmithing, a direction that would shape the rest of his life and leave a lasting mark on Danish decorative arts.
Hertz completed his goldsmith training in 1858, and his graduation piece - an arm ring - immediately attracted royal attention. Frederick VII acquired the work for 300 Danish rigsdaler and presented it to Countess Danner. Hertz used the proceeds to establish his own business that same year, naming it Bernhard Hertz Guldvarefabrik. From the outset, the workshop specialized in jewellery with naturalistic flower motifs and in faithful replicas of ancient pieces, a combination that appealed to both fashionable and historically minded buyers.
One of Hertz's most consequential decisions was to make fine jewelry accessible beyond the wealthy few. He began producing pieces in silver rather than gold alone, and introduced mechanical processes - rolling and frosting - into the workshop to increase output without sacrificing quality. This democratizing approach positioned the firm as a leader in what Danish design history calls Skønvirke, the local expression of the Art Nouveau movement. By 1887, demand had grown sufficiently for Hertz to commission a three-storey factory building in a courtyard at Store Kongensgade, consolidating production in one of Copenhagen's most prestigious streets.
Hertz died in 1909, but the company he built continued under the Bernhard Hertz name. The factory operated until 1942, and the legal entity Bernhard Hertz A/S remained active until 1985, when it was absorbed into Lund Copenhagen. The factory building at Store Kongensgade 23 was listed in the Danish national registry of protected buildings in 1989, a recognition of its architectural and historical significance. Together with Georg Jensen and Anton Michelsen, Bernhard Hertz is counted among the Danish goldsmiths and silversmiths with the widest international recognition.
On the Nordic auction market, Bernhard Hertz pieces appear most frequently at Danish houses, with Bruun Rasmussen accounting for the majority of recorded results. Items in the database include Art Nouveau brooches set with cabochon amber and chrysoprase, rings and bracelets in 14k gold, cufflinks in both 8k and 14k gold, and bronze vessels with green patina and gilded edges. Realized prices tend to sit in the lower to mid hundreds of Danish kroner for silver pieces and reach into the low thousands for gold jewelry, reflecting the firm's original aim of producing quality work at accessible price points.